D23 Brazil Debuted a New Captain America: Brave New World Trailer
There was a D23 Brazil presentation this weekend, which seemed to arrive with no fanfare; usually, you know these events are happening, but I didn’t hear a peep in the lead-up to the big Disney convention. Once it got up and running, however, the company conquered the online weekend conversation (the part of it not dominated by the recent election, at least) with some news and trailers. Marvel had the two big trailers, of course, and one of them was for Captain America: Brave New World, the upcoming debut of Sam Wilson as a lead character in a movie. Picking up after the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier – although I’ll bet they keep the references to the show to a minimum – Brave New World picks up with Sam investigating some kind of conspiracy involving super soldiers, the Serpent Society, and a mysterious mastermind, with Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, the former Army general and Secretary of State and current President of the United States, as the seeming target. Anthony Mackie returns as Sam Wilson, with Harrison Ford taking over for the late William Hurt as General/President Ross; they’re joined by Giancarlo Esposito, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, and Carl Lumbly. Liv Tyler and Tim Blake Nelson reprise their roles from The Incredible Hulk. Directed by Julius Onah, Captain America: Brave New World arrives in theaters on February 14, 2025, and you can see the new D23 Brazil trailer below:
I’m biased in terms of this movie; I don’t like legacy heroes as a concept, and it annoys me seeing a Captain America movie without Steve Rogers, just as it annoyed me when Jane Foster was referred to as “Thor” (and even “Mighty Thor,” which comes off as a direct attack on the real Thor’s legitimacy). And they’ve been doing that to Captain America throughout Marvel’s post-Endgame output; suddenly, he’s being referred to as “Captain Rogers” by people who’ve never met him and would logically call him “Captain America.” And that Broadway musical about Captain America and the Avengers in Hawkeye, which could’ve been a great gag, is titled Rogers, which, again, is stupid; it’d more likely be called Captain America, or something like Cap to give it a little Broadway whimsy. These are attempts to disassociate Steve Rogers from Captain America. And while it’s more understandable for them to do this in Brave New World, which is Sam’s theatrical (as in something people might actually watch) debut using the moniker, the new trailer makes a point of having as many characters as possible refer to him as “Captain America” or “Cap.” They also play that clip of Ross telling him, “You’re not Steve Rogers,” and Sam defiantly saying, “You’re right; I’m not.” I’ll have to see the movie to know for sure what the writers (and Marvel) are saying with lines like that, but they irk me.
The movie itself looks fine, I guess. Brave New World feels very much like a rehash of Captain America: The Winter Soldier with some Civil War thrown in for flavor. Sam is investigating a conspiracy involving rogue super soldiers, in particular one who used to be a friend, and there seems to be brainwashing involved. Sam has to go on the run from the government with a ragtag team of allies, including one who, to my understanding, will be the new Falcon and one who seems to have the same skill set and fighting technique as Black Widow. Sam eventually gets a darker suit than his normal brightly colored one. (I imagine this won’t be thematically important the way it was in The Winter Solider, and if it is, it won’t be patriotic like it was in the earlier film.) And Ross still wants to control superheroes, like he did in Civil War; that one at least makes sense and is consistent with his character, but taken with the rest, it feels like more of the same. Speaking of Ross (one of three Hulk characters they’re using to bolster Sam Wilson’s movie), they’re not wasting any time showing off Red Hulk, are they? At least make his identity a mystery so you don’t blow the surprise for people who don’t know him from the comics. That’s what they did for Bucky being the Winter Soldier if I recall correctly. But they’re desperate, probably because this movie tested so poorly that they essentially remade it at least once, and its massive reshoot-induced budget makes breaking even all but a pipe dream. As with pretty much everything Marvel does now, I’m not expecting much from Brave New World.
Let us know what you thought of the Captain America: Brave New World trailer in the comments!
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